In order to simplify the process for clearing a paper jam, the following scheme has been proposed: Upon opening of the cover, a manual sheet feeding apparatus interconnected to the cover or cover opening mechanism is retracted from a pair of guide rollers in a portion of a sheet conveying path, and the pair of guide rollers is moved to an open or separated state. As a result, there is no need to perform an additional operation of opening the sheet guide pair and retracting the manual sheet feeding apparatus. Therefore, fewer steps are performed for opening the conveying path and the handling of a paper jam is simplified.
In this arrangement, the sheet guide pair, forming a part of the cover and the conveying path, is arranged in a position substantially parallel to the cover. Therefore, it is difficult to link the opening/closing of a conveying guide, which forms a part of the conveying path which flows in a direction orthogonal to the cover. Consequently, the conveying guide, arranged substantially in the direction perpendicular to the cover, requires a separate opening/closing operation than the opening/closing operation of the cover. Inevitably the operation for opening the conveying path for handling a paper jam, etc., becomes complicated.